She Moved Through the Souk

This instrumental gets its name because it kind of evolved from Davy Graham’s jazz-raga arrangement of ‘She Moved Through the Fair’ (memorably described by Martin Carthy as ‘a mess’). I’ve used the same arrangement (without the jazziness) as a starting point for accompanying singers since the end of the 1960s, when I used to do ‘She moved through the fair’ with my friend Sally Goddard, who now lives in Newfoundland and sings with the band Atlantic Union. London friends may remember the electric version I used to do with Kathy Bowen Jones.

However, this is a highly personalized, extemporized instrumental version that always seems to come out more North African than Indian. Anyway, I don’t think we’re in Ireland any more with this version, Toto.

I don’t suppose Martin would like this version much, either. Nevertheless, I’ll probably come back to record a more polished version in due course. Perhaps with a sitar overdub. 🙂